Couple stole almost £50k of family’s life savings

Jurors deliver verdict after hearing of spending spree with stolen cash

A Fife couple could be facing prison after jurors found them unanimously guilty of plotting and staging a housebreaking in which a safe containing £48,700 was stolen.

Mark Green and Lisa Reid raided the Angus home owned by her father, Derek Reid, to plunder the family’s life savings – all in £20 notes.

The money had taken Mr Reid – who gave up years of his life to care for his ailing second wife and father – many years to accumulate.

Thousands of pounds had also been put into the pot by Miss Reid’s sisters, who were all left out of pocket. One lost £21,000.

Police officers were called to investigate the theft but between then and their execution of a warrant at a house in Kelty, the thieves went on an incredible spending spree.

Over the next nine weeks they blew their way through more than £22,800 on a vast array of high-value items, including clothing, footwear, furniture, furnishings, games consoles, kitchen equipment and children’s toys.

Most were found still in their packaging, handily accompanied by receipts, by detectives, who needed a van to carry away the goods to storage at Forfar police office.

During a trial at Perth Sheriff Court, jurors also heard that Green and Reid had between them purchased three cars – beginning with a Ford Fiesta valued at almost £3,000 and an Audi A4 valued at nearly £4,000, paid for in £20 notes.

The couple then travelled to England where they spent a further £6,000 on a Nissan Juke.

The £22,800 haul – read out in its entirety at the court – represented just one part of the spending undertaken by the couple.

Jurors heard significant additional sums – in Euros – were spent on a trip to Belgium, with Reid using her family’s money to bankroll airport transfers, flights, a hotel stay and, finally, cosmetic surgery.

By the time the spree ended, it is understood there was little or no money left, with the exception of the Euros contained within two wallets.

Witnesses said not one penny had been returned to the family.

Reid, 25 and Green, 35, of Croftangry Road in Kelty, had each denied stealing a safe and forcing it open to steal £48,700 in cash from a property in Angus on September 10 2016.

Over four days of evidence, jurors heard how the break-in appeared to have been staged by someone with access to a key and watched CCTV footage of the blundering Green.

His image was captured on a filling station’s camera, minutes from Derek Reid’s home, after the thief popped in for sweets and a coffee minutes before breaking in.

Depute fiscal Nicola Gillespie revealed the accused each had past convictions for crimes of dishonesty.

Reid’s criminal record includes a conviction for fraud and two for theft, while her partner’s record includes offences of violence, a domestic incident involving a bottle, housebreaking and, in 2014, a sexual offence.

Sentence upon the pair has now been deferred until March 7.

Reid has been released on bail to return on that date, but Green was remanded in custody.

Lisa Reid and Mark Green arrive at court to hear the jury’s verdict.